How bad is a bad block?

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Sudlow
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David Sudlow

My wife's 5 1/2 years old XP laptop had some problems that I traced to a
single bad block (using chkdsk /r /f).

My question is how badly does this bode for the hard drive? Is a single
bad block after this amount of time a sign of it failing soon or could
it go on for several more years?
 
My wife's 5 1/2 years old XP laptop had some problems that I traced to a
single bad block (using chkdsk /r /f).

My question is how badly does this bode for the hard drive? Is a single
bad block after this amount of time a sign of it failing soon or could
it go on for several more years?
Click to expand...

Just keep on chugging, mate. No big deal. Just make sure you back-up
anything of importance. As you usually should.
 
in message
My wife's 5 1/2 years old XP laptop had some problems that I traced
to a single bad block (using chkdsk /r /f).

My question is how badly does this bode for the hard drive? Is a
single bad block after this amount of time a sign of it failing soon
or could it go on for several more years?
Click to expand...


Repeatedly run "chkdsk /r" each day to see if more show up. You might
also want to get disk diag tools, like from Seagate and Western
Digital, to test your drive(s). SpinRite is better but not free.
 
David Sudlow said:
My wife's 5 1/2 years old XP laptop had some problems that I traced to a
single bad block (using chkdsk /r /f).

My question is how badly does this bode for the hard drive? Is a single
bad block after this amount of time a sign of it failing soon or could it
go on for several more years?
Click to expand...

A warning shot - backup everything. The drive might have months left, years
left, or only 10 more boots - unable to tell. Make sure your backup includes
everything you may ever need - don't just backup My Documents - things like
emails are not stored in there!
 
GT said:
A warning shot - backup everything. The drive might have months left, years
left, or only 10 more boots - unable to tell. Make sure your backup includes
everything you may ever need - don't just backup My Documents - things like
emails are not stored in there!
Click to expand...

Well, everything should be backed up on a regualar basis even beofore
you discover a bad sector.
 
David said:
My wife's 5 1/2 years old XP laptop had some problems that I traced to a
single bad block (using chkdsk /r /f).

My question is how badly does this bode for the hard drive? Is a single
bad block after this amount of time a sign of it failing soon or could
it go on for several more years?
Click to expand...

A single bad block is no big deal. Yes it can go on for several more
years with no problem. The big deal starts if you have, lets say, 5 bad
sectors and then next month you have 7. Then you know for sure that your
hard drive hasn't much time left.
 
How do you backup everything and all folders in Outlook? Do you export
to some knid of a file? What is a PST file?
 
Mel wrote: ** and top-posted - fixed **
How do you backup everything and all folders in Outlook? Do you
export to some knid of a file? What is a PST file?
Click to expand...

The easiest way is to get XXcopy (from xxcopy.com) and install an
auxiliary hard disk to receive the system copy. A simple batch
file controls it.

Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
irrelevant material. I fixed this one. See the following links:

--
<http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
<http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
<http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)
 
in message




Repeatedly run "chkdsk /r" each day to see if more show up. You might
also want to get disk diag tools, like from Seagate and Western
Digital, to test your drive(s). SpinRite is better but not free.
Click to expand...

Steven Gibson is a liar and worse. It really needs a psychologist to
describe him.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040114094502/http://www.grcsucks.com/spinrite.htm

you can view the rest of the grcsucks website through archive.org

He has fooled alot of techies.

Scott Mueller also notes his criticism of Spinrite in his(meuller's)
book. May be worth a look.

But, regarding one Gibson incident, Gibson said himself "I set up a
deliberate misinformation campaign from the beginning". As that site
shows at the top. That's in an audio. Misinformation and obfuscation
explains alot on his site. To make himself appear as The Authority, to
market what he wants e.g. Zonealarm, to force Microsoft to make
changes in Windows, by spreading FUD.

I still use the 'shields up' online port scanner from time to time.
But it's important to not fall into Gibson's trap.

If you are aware of Gibson's site, bits of software, "technologies"
and that grcsucks site, then you can see for yourself.
 
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